


Come On, Be Nice

by lzclotho



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Seduction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-12 09:26:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lzclotho/pseuds/lzclotho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina has decided that the quickest way to get rid of Emma Swan is to scare off the commitment phobic woman with a come-on. This, as with many of Regina's plans, does not go as, well, planned. Contains explicit Swan Queen sex. Set sometime early in season 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Sina Dino on the Swan Queen Facebook group for the inspiration.

"Anyone I allow close to Henry must be close to me, Miss Swan." The timber of Regina's voice rolled over Emma like amber trapping a fly. Her brown eyes had shifted to a beautiful dark gold as they flickered over Emma's face only inches away. "Someone I understand... and who understands me... intimately."

Emma's breath caught in her throat. Had Storybrooke's mayor really just propositioned her? "Madame Mayor." Emma tried the title for a little emotional distance, since her position, in a chair in the mayor's office with Regina looming over her, did not allow physical distance.

Regina's hands moved from behind her back. Emma watched them from the corners of her eyes with a mix of trepidation and anticipation. Closing around the arms of the chair, Regina's hands flexed, the muscles in her forearms defining and shifting in Emma's periphery. Her heart tripped on a beat, and she gasped up into the mouth only centimeters from her own.

Hot breath caressed Emma's tongue. "Are you interested in my terms?"

Brown eyes closed and Emma took a breath, grateful for the reprieve from the woman's sensual assault. "I only wanted – " What she wanted to say was cut off by the mayor's upper lip brushing against Emma's bottom one. The woman's bottom lip closed, the action trapping Emma's lip, causing Emma's heart to stutter as if electrically shocked.

Emma reached up to push Regina away. She found her fingers on a blouse-covered breast at the same moment Regina's hand pressed against the back of hers.

"Yes, that's right, dear." Regina breathed and repositioned Emma's hand more firmly before parting Emma's lips with her tongue and delving inside.

Head swimming with the woman's taste – she really did taste of apple cider, which Emma had decided had to be the only thing the brunette drank – Emma pressed forward into the kiss and squeezed the breast cupped in her palm, pleased with the catch she heard in Regina's breathing. If Regina was serious, it wasn't like Emma hadn't gone to bed before with someone for far less important reasons.

Regina kept the dominant position, rising over Emma as she lifted her skirt and spread her legs. Green eyes followed her hungrily as she lowered to her knees on either side of Emma's thighs in the chair. She returned to kissing Emma, tangling her fingers in the thick blonde locks. Emma's mouth, it turned out, was quite pleasantly skilled in more than banter, as soft lips left hers and trailed to the junction of her jaw and throat. Breaths of wet heat there caused Regina's center to swell and moisten. She dropped her hips, pressing into Emma's waist, finding the edge of her belt buckle.

Emma's hand left her breast. Regina almost voiced a protest, until she felt both hands on her thighs, pushing beneath her gathered skirt and skimming the catches of her garters before moving on to massage her ass. The action shot sensation directly to Regina's center. She couldn't help it; her head fell back. Emma nipped at the base of her exposed throat causing Regina to gasp.

_Who was seducing whom here exactly?_

Reminded of her purpose, Regina tangled her fingers more tightly in Emma's hair, pulling the blonde head back with a low growl and attacked the pale white throat; her teeth barely hidden by her lips. Emma's moans and the way she rolled up her hips into Regina were the perfect reward.

Emma pulled her hands out of Regina's skirt and instead kneaded her way up Regina's back to pull down on her shoulders, forcing the mayor to sit in her lap. Pushing up, Emma ground her hips against Regina's center and, with unerring aim, she latched onto the hardened nipple of a breast still covered by silk blouse and even silkier bra.

Overwhelmed with the multiple sensations, Regina vocalized incoherently and couldn't find the thought to do anything but cup the back of Emma's head and hold her mouth in place as she rocked down on Emma's hips.

The buttons of her blouse parted, and Emma pulled down the cup of her bra to reach the breast unimpeded. She toyed with the hardened nipple with the tip of her tongue before sucking most of the mass into her mouth hard. Regina's moans became groans and her hips rolled almost frantically on Emma's lap, trying to increase the friction.

The sound of a knock at the office door poured over them as shocking as cold water. Shivering, Regina almost fell backward off Emma's lap. Firm hands on her waist steadied her. Emma stood; green eyes met brown, finding a surprising vulnerability.

"Your house, twenty minutes," Emma said. Regina nodded, giving in to her shaking legs and lowering slowly to the table top next to the chair as Emma walked to the door.

The blonde had a brief conversation with Regina's secretary, who had come to announce another appointment. Dimly Regina heard Emma cancel the appointment on her behalf. "The mayor isn't feeling well. I think she's going to be heading home."

* * *

Still clutching closed her long gray coat, Regina opened the door following the first firm knock. She had only just entered the home herself, and hadn't yet removed it. Emma Swan stepped across her threshold wearing a knowing smirk and displaying every ounce of insouciant confidence she possessed. Regina's hand flexed on the fabric of her coat. "Feeling a bit under the weather, Madame Mayor?"

"I only just arrived," she said, her focus on the woman's lips and eyes.

Emma stepped into her personal space. "I know. I've been out at the street watching for you." The boldness of it; Regina felt her vision blur. Emma spoke again. "Perhaps I should take you up to bed."

Regina's stomach flipped. "I don't..." Emma's hands met hers at her throat and parted the fabric, causing soothing tingles on tensed fingers which Regina dropped by her side as Emma proceeded to undo each button.  _Good_ , Regina thought, she'd barely had the coordination to close them in the first place to be halfway decent as she exited her office past her secretary, murmuring "I have to go home."

The coat draped over the stair banister as Emma tossed it there before cupping Regina's cheeks and tipping their mouths together for a kiss that started innocently enough. It was almost... loving.  _No._  Regina couldn't bear that.

She brought her hands up to push Emma away. But just as her palms brushed Emma's jacket, Emma's mouth opened and her tongue slipped over Regina's lips, pressing for entrance. Knees weakening, Regina clutched the leather and gasped. Emma's tongue slipped inside. Emma's hands pressed against Regina's back, pulling their bodies together, and Regina's breathing hitched again.

"Bed?" Emma said. Regina nodded. Emma let her go; Regina took the moment to step away, grasp the banister rail to steady herself and slow her breathing with each step up the stairs. She didn't look back, hoping the lack made it appear she was in control, expecting Emma to follow like the obedient puppy she needed her to be.

Emma watched Regina's back and the sway of her hips, noticing the wrinkles in the skirt as the shapely legs negotiated the stairs. So carefully. Regina was come-hither personified, and if Emma hadn't known she had put those wrinkles in that skirt she'd be shaking in her boots. As it was, she was quivering with need. The drive over here had not been long enough to cool off and she had relived several times the taste and feel of the woman she'd very nearly taken on a chair in her office not half an hour ago.

A bed was going to be so much nicer. Regina was almost to the top of the steps when Emma finally followed. The strong lines in Regina's shoulders dropped slightly at each light thump Emma's boots made on the stairs. Keeping the woman off balance, Emma reached the top of the stairs, lengthened her strides and grabbed Regina around the waist, pushing her against the wall just outside her bedroom, pressing her mouth and hips into her simultaneously. Regina's gasp was hot on her tongue. She rolled her hips into Regina's once more as she planted her hands on the wall to either side of Regina's head.

When she pulled back, Emma saw Regina's eyes had closed and her head tilted up, exposing her throat. Long-fingered hands had palmed the wall in a desperate bid for support. She grasped Regina's hand from the wall and pulled her into the bedroom firmly shutting the door, shutting out the rest of the world.

Regina's senses restored a little with the sound of the door strongly settling into its frame. She sat on the bed leaving Emma standing in the middle of her room. "I thought you might leave that deplorable jacket at least out of this room." She was immensely pleased to manage the cutting remark. Emma's eyes flashed with the dark thoughts she didn't voice as she stripped off the red leather and tossed it casually over the chair at Regina's dressing table.

Once the jacket was gone, Regina noted, the woman's attire was much more complimentary to both her figure and her coloring, a loose blue cotton button blouse tucked into her jeans, the open top two buttons revealed the two necklaces the blonde always wore, a silver swan pendant and, on a longer wisp of chain a flattened and hollow circle. She wanted to ask about them which was absurd. This was going to be sex, not a relationship.

But her attempt at distance was once again fleeting. Emma dropped to her feet, removing her shoes. The feel of warm soft hands against her ankles and then skimming ticklishly over the bared sole of her foot made Regina squirm as her center remembered all too well the caress of those hands elsewhere.

She needed to regain some semblance of control. Pushing against Emma's shoulders, she throatily ordered, "Strip."

Emma gave a lingering stroke up Regina's thigh as she stood. Stepping back, Emma made quick work of her boots and kicked them to the side. Then the blonde's hands went to her shirt buttons. Regina licked then bit her own lip. She followed the fingers on their journey, which paused briefly at the waistband and belt of Emma's jeans. Her mouth went absolutely dry. Then the shirt slipped out and Regina saw the woman's toned stomach bare for the first time, just a peek, but her mouth went wet again. She darted her gaze up, meeting Emma's and saw the pupils wide and the green darkening.  _Desire._  She crashed forward, pushing Emma against the vanity. Several items falling to the floor went unheeded as she sucked Emma's bottom lip into her mouth before pulling apart the rest of Emma's buttons and grasping handfuls of the woman's breasts, scraping her thumbs over the hardening nubs before pinching them.

"Holy fuck, Regina," Emma gasped when her mouth was free. Regina felt her predatory senses settle a bit in anticipation of victory. Yes, this was how this was supposed to go.

Regina made quick work of the buckle, button and zipper of Emma's jeans before Emma had regained her coordination. Arms went down Regina's back. Emma pulled down the zipper at the back of Regina's skirt. Loosened from her hips, the fabric pooled at Regina's feet and she stepped back out of it, pulling Emma by the lapels of her shirt toward the bed with her, their mouths slamming together again for another kiss.

Emma stepped on the hem of her jeans and blindly wrestled them off her legs before following Regina onto the bed on her knees. But Regina was done being the bottom. She rolled Emma onto her back, pinning her right arm to the mattress above Emma's head.

"When I am done, I will know everything about you, Miss Swan," Regina promised. "How every touch makes you whimper." She demonstrated with a light pull on Emma's nipple through her bra that indeed did make the blonde whimper. "How every caress makes you moan." Emma moaned as Regina's caress skated down to cup Emma's center through her underwear. "And how your body responds to every thrust." She kissed between Emma's breasts as she pushed aside the underwear and barely danced a single fingertip within already soaking folds. Emma's hips rose, causing her finger to slip deeper.

Emma's head rolled back as Regina slipped a thumb into play and rubbed hard at the side of her clit, while curling two fingers knuckle deep. She felt her insides grasping at the digits, throbbing. When Regina plied her teeth on Emma's nipple, only moving aside the cup of the bra enough to reach the hard nub, a cascading sensation shot from there to her center. She curled on herself and cried out.

Smiling as she continued to teethe at Emma's nipple, Regina closed her eyes and absorbed the delicious sensations of the blonde convulsing around her. The blonde's breaths came hard and shallow, her center flowed warm and thick like cream around Regina's fingers, and as both their arousal spiraled higher, the scent of sex flooded the air.

Unable to move her right arm from Regina's steel grip, Emma used her left hand to cup the back of Regina's head, threshing her fingers through the short thick locks, grounding herself in the softness. As Regina's two fingers became three, Emma core throbbed even as her hips surged in rhythm with the thrusts. Regina's knee moved between Emma's thighs, putting more force behind her hand.  _God_ , but it was the woman's mouth on her body elsewhere that was threatening Emma's tenuous hold on reality.

Her nipples were chewed, then sucked continuously until the sensation between Emma's breasts and groin felt like a live electrical circuit. Then Regina removed her hand from Emma's center, and turned her onto her side. Emma didn't understand until Regina had lifted her leg, pushing her knee between and wrapping her arm around Emma's hip, pressed down on the hood of her clit. The gathering sensations exploded like a power substation, an orgasm crashing through her body without any of the usual warnings at all.

Regina rolled Emma onto her stomach, rocking her knee between Emma's thighs and Emma kept rocking into the bed, as Regina plied kisses up and down her back before latching onto Emma's throat, just under her left ear, setting off another pulse through her body and a soft cry of surprise.

Emma had thought she would be the experienced one, having been sure that the powerful mayor had led a singularly uninspired sex life. It was part of the reason she'd accepted the mayor's proposition; she assumed she'd have the upper hand. But now she felt completely out of her depth.

Regina rolled Emma onto her back and crawled back between her thighs, this time rocking her own groin against Emma's throbbing center, which almost threatened to send Emma spiraling off once again. Regina looked down into Emma's face. "Good," she said, not meaning it as a question as she smiled devilishly at the blonde's dazed expression.

Coming back to focus underneath the brunette and luxuriating in the firm yet soft flesh against her, Emma saw her chance. Regina's eyes were dark pools, her pupils wide and the brown irises so dark they were almost black. The woman's arousal was still high. Even though endorphins flooded her body making her tired, Emma slipped her hand down and cupped Regina's sex. The slender hips jerked against her palm. Emma smiled, and massaged the area. "My turn," she breathed.

She turned the pair of them over so Regina was on the bottom. Pushing Regina's thighs together, she trapped them between her knees and began a sensual assault with her mouth as she pinned both of Regina's hands out away from their bodies. She nibbled around the edges of Regina's sex, plying her tongue and her teeth, sensitizing every inch of flesh in the cradle of the woman's pelvis, but never touching her core. Gradually she continued higher, tasting the plain of the woman's stomach and nipping at the places where her ribs strained against the flesh and the undersides of her breasts.

Regina's hips rolled and shook with the sensations. Her arms tried but couldn't pull free. However, Emma discovered just how powerful Regina's legs were when she felt herself slip slightly between them in the space made. Instead of changing position, Emma rocked her center into Regina's and settled in to feast on her breasts. She teased and pulled at the nipples, listening to Regina's gasps and cries. She sucked first one then the other until they were nearly as red as the apples the woman loved so much.

Releasing one of Regina's arms, she cupped the back of the woman's head and indulged them both in a soft kiss.

That proved to be Regina's undoing. The softness. Her now free hand had been tangling in Emma's hair, but when the kiss lingered long and soft, her hand moved to Emma's back, her hips tilted up, and she rocked into Emma's belly, coming with a long cry.

Emma saw the tears when she pulled back from the kiss. Regina had squeezed her eyes shut with her orgasm, and wetness leaked from the pinched corners onto her cheeks. Understanding the danger of allowing oneself to be soft all too well, Emma said nothing. She resettled them, taking the role of the big spoon and pulling Regina backward into her chest, cradling her rear with her pelvis and curling her feet around Regina's ankles. Then she tangled their arms and hands together in front of Regina's chest. Burying her face against Regina's throat, inhaling the sweat and scent of apples, she closed her eyes.


	2. Coming Undone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still the same night. (timeline is SEASON 1) Unable to find Emma, and unaware of what has transpired beyond his mother’s secretary telling him that Regina went home looking sick, Henry runs home…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked for a “morning after” for this fic. Due to the storyline this is not the next morning, but it is what happened next. ~ LZ

The slamming of the front door downstairs roused Regina to hear her son’s voice shouting out for her.

“Mom!”

Regina tried to sit up, only to find Emma Swan - !!! - laying on her stomach beside her with her draped over Regina’s bare chest. She had just enough presence of mind to shove the woman toward the floor.

Emma’s green eyes were wide and startled, holding Regina’s attention even as they both heard Henry’s shout.

“Mom!”

The sharp thud against the bedroom forestalled any sort of verbal barb that might have flown from Emma’s mouth. Instead the blonde looked at Regina before ducking into the bathroom.

“Just a minute, Henry,” Regina said. The bathroom door closed on silent hinges as Regina stood up and reached for her robe.

Regina tied the sash of her robe. Pulling inward on the door, she leaned on the side, looking down into her son’s face. “Yes, dear?”

“Your secretary said you went home sick.” He cocked his head to the side, examining her. “How’d you get sick?”

“I suppose I ate something that disagreed with me,” Regina said. “I’ve been resting. You shouldn’t be worried,” she added, touched that he was behaving like he cared she was ill. “You should do your homework.”

“I’m hungry. It’s dinner time.”

Regina swallowed; she crouched until she was at eye level with Henry and reached out for his hand. “Can you eat leftovers tonight?”

“Leftovers? What about you?” He frowned at her. 

She stood once more. “I’ll be down to eat something later.”

“You really must be sick,” he said half to himself, walking away. “You’d never let me cook for myself,” he muttered.

Regina pushed the door closed and leaned her forehead against the back of it.

“You  _ate_ something that  _disagreed_ with you? I never imagined you for the ironic euphemism, Madame Mayor.”

Regina turned quickly to see Emma stepping out of the bathroom, still nude. “What are you doing? Henry’s right outside!” Regina hissed, barely above a whisper.

Appearing unfazed by Regina’s fluster, Emma calmly reached for her jeans in a heap on the floor, fishing out the underwear tucked inside. “It’s time for me to be going.”

Regina watched her sift through the clothing crumpled among the sheets, uncovering her tank top beneath Regina’s blouse. She remembered Emma stripping her of that blouse, watching her fingers parting the buttons, and then distracting her from the loss of her “armor,” as she had teased, with kisses.

“You can’t go,” Regina hissed in a whisper, unsure why she was trying to keep the woman here. Hadn’t she instigated this entire seduction to make Emma run? “Henry will see you!”

“The kid is wolfing down leftovers. Even if he does see me, what’s he going to think? I’m leaving.”

“What are you doing here if I’m sick?”

“I brought you home. He thinks I’m the Savior. The hero.”

“You _bedded_ me!”

“You really are a prude under all those pencil skirts. We _fucked_. Like rabbits, Regina.” Emma smirked, pulling on the tank top and Regina hummed in appreciation at the taut peaks of nipples distending the cotton. “It was  _you_ who wanted to _bed_ me  _first_. I just took you up on the offer."  

Flustered by Emma’s blase attitude, Regina frowned. “Why?” Then she bit her lip, frustrated that she gave a damn enough to ask the question.

Shrugging, Emma replied, “Why not? You’re hot. Entertaining when you’re all flared up. And…if it made you a little more agreeable to letting me see Henry…” She shrugged again.

Regina’s pride was pricked. “You can’t see him if you leave!”

Emma nodded. “True.” She took a step closer. At least she was clothed somewhat, Regina thought, though the heat of her so close was distracting. She couldn’t help darting her eyes over Emma’s face, struggling to read her as the woman grasped her wrists and held her gaze. “Are you saying I can see Henry if I stay?”

The woman’s fingers flexed and stroked over Regina’s wrists, devastating her emotional control. Regina’s eyes darted down from green eyes to lips that were still slightly swollen from their passionate kisses. She made an incoherent sound, voicing her distress.

Emma covered her mouth with her own, and the whimper turned into a moan. Regina struggled with her hands in Emma’s grip. When she was free, however, instead of backing up she pressed herself tightly into Emma’s body, threading her hands into Emma’s hair and deepening their kiss.

“Oh fuck,” she managed when Emma released her mouth and trailed a hot tongue along her jugular vein. 

“Yeah,” Emma chuckled through a breath against her ear.

Regina didn’t resist the robe being pushed from her shoulders when there was the promise of more bodily delights at this woman’s talented hands captivating her from green eyes. The palm against her belly was hot and rough, and yet moving so languorously she couldn’t help the arousal that pooled in response. Emma’s fingertips followed the heating trail, slipping down and into Regina’s folds. The sound of her own wetness against Emma’s fingers broke the silence that had fallen between them.

“Lay back,  _your majesty_ ,” Emma hissed. Regina tensed at the implication, but then went boneless once more as Emma’s finger pressed around Regina’s clit on its way up inside her. Regina’s breath caught in her throat, a sound between outrage and hedonistic demand dying on her mouth as Emma breathed against it, “You are about to get  _royally_ fucked.” 

For all her rough language - Regina couldn’t tell Emma it turned her on impossibly more - the woman was a tender lover. With one muscular arm supporting Regina’s shoulders as her fingers stroked the back of Regina’s head, Emma resumed kissing her. Moving above Regina on the bed, Emma pressed her body between Regina’s thighs which she opened with welcome, feeling the hairs covering both their centers tangling and wet. 

Rocking her hips, Emma hummed and smiled into Regina’s shoulder when she wrapped her ankles around Emma’s back. Emma paused in her rocking, lifted up and circled her free hand on Regina’s belly before sliding down and massaging Regina’s clit.

Regina growled against the urge to throw her head back and surrender herself, finding Emma’s gaze instead and locking to it in challenge. Two long middle fingers rocked inside Regina, pushing and pressing, and twisting, wrestling Regina’s stubborn control from her a millimeter of sensation at a time. 

Gasping and rolling, both to get closer and get away, Regina fought valiantly. But when she tried to squeeze her eyes shut, to shut out some of the sensations, stave off her final surrender, Emma stopped moving. Popping her eyes open, Regina gaped. Emma resumed her strokes and spoke low and forcefully.

“ _Don’t_ close your eyes. Don’t _try_ to imagine I’m Graham. No one else can do _this_ to you. You  _can’t_ imagine anyone else touching you like this. Not _ever_ again.”

Emma continued to stroke, and Regina continued to throb. When the sensations were so overwhelming Regina squeezed her eyes shut again to stem the flow of tears, she realized Emma was right. There was no one else behind her eyes. Only Emma, in her eyes, in her mind, in her body. The sensations spiraled on themselves, compounding, deepening. 

“Emma!” she gasped out as her body coalesced onto itself, onto Emma’s touch, against Emma’s body. She hadn’t even noticed that Emma had straddled her thigh, thrusting herself against Regina’s knee. But when she felt her own body convulse around Emma’s fingers, Emma shuddered against her, warmth and wetness from her center soaking Regina’s thigh.

“Regina!” Emma’s voice called her back from the abyss, and they were left stranded, shaking, soaked, drowned in the aftermath of their passion.

Regina came back to herself stroking Emma’s hair, down her back, gripping her hips, pulling the woman’s center harder against her thigh. Emma’s head fell to Regina’s shoulder and she found herself stroking and soothing. It felt utterly foreign.

And yet, it felt utterly  _good_ to be doing this, here, now, with this one person in all the realms.

The Savior. 

Her undoing.

“You’re going to destroy everything,” she murmured into Emma’s tear-stained cheek.

“Yeah,” Emma sighed into Regina’s shoulder, fresh tears sparkling in green eyes.

Regina comforted her with a kiss.

 

###


	3. Going and Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma leaves the mansion, Henry follows, then Regina, and after Henry's gone, Emma and Regina have some unfinished business. Or continue where they left off... or something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I don’t care how complicated this gets, I still want you." 
> 
> The above quote served as inspiration for this week’s Sunday Morning Smut. “Coming and Going” continues my fic “Come On, Be Nice,” a first season OUAT SQ AU.
> 
> This is not so much smut as very emotional sex. And there’s plot. I just can’t help myself. And neither can Emma and Regina apparently.

****

Regina stared out the bedroom window watching the progress of Emma Swan down Mifflin Street back toward the center of town. The blonde had, indeed, made it out of the mansion without Henry being aware.

Touching her lips with the flat of her fingers, Regina recalled the other woman’s parting kiss. She inhaled a surprised sip of air when she felt the tingles anew. Throwing the drapes closed she fought to draw her anger about her like a cloak, warding off the feeling of weakness as it dragged at her limbs, tingling in her legs and stomach.

She was headed for her closet when she heard the wood whisper across the floor and realized it was the front door opening and closing. 

_Henry_. 

No doubt he was headed out to find Emma. Her heart thudded painfully as she wondered what Emma would do when she was found. Hurriedly Regina dressed again, determined to stop her son from leaving with his birth mother, certain that nothing had changed. One afternoon of passion could not be sufficient to sway someone to stay.

Regina froze with her hand on the door as her mind tripped over its thoughts. In the mirror she could see her face pulled with worry. No. She firmed her jaw. She did  _not_  want Emma Swan to stay. She came onto the woman to drive her away; so she was only going out to see the back of the woman as she left. She was only assuring herself that Henry did not find Emma first and leave with her. She glared at her reflection, still seeing her cheeks with their high color and the way her throat swallowed with the memories of Emma’s touch. She looked and felt intoxicated.

* * *

Emma had headed past the bed and breakfast, and the diner, needing more time to think. Leaving Regina with a kiss had happened in the spur of the moment, but she fought against the urge to turn around, run back, and take the woman in her arms again. She had taken the woman’s offer; that’s all it was, nothing more. 

She had softened the panicked and prickly woman enough to be allowed to continue contact with Henry. She now knew without a doubt Regina loved her son. She wished any of her foster parents had felt half as much for her as Regina felt for Henry. 

She found herself at a playground by the sea, sitting on a wooden play structure staring out at the Atlantic waves, the surface sparking with late afternoon sunlight.

"Emma! Emma! I figured out another part of the book!"

She turned to see Henry running across the rutted path of sand and grass, that fairytale book clutched to his chest. “Kid! What are you doing here?”

"Finding you," he said simply, slamming into the side of the wooden structure. "You like my castle?" he asked, Tossing the book onto the wood, he pulled his body up next to her, 

"Your castle, huh?"

"Yeah, mom used to bring me here when I was little, but I told her I was too big for it. Now I use it to be alone since she doesn’t come here anymore."

Emma shifted and shrugged. “Maybe you ought to share it with her again.”

Henry twisted his face. “She doesn’t deserve it. She’s the Evil Queen.”

"Henry," Emma spoke sharply. "Regi— _your mother_ loves you. More than anything. If I’d had—”

"But she’s evil," he insisted, interrupting her. "She doesn’t deserve a happy ending. Look what she did to your parents!"

Henry thrust the book into her lap, flipping quickly to a page. She saw a picture of Snow White cradling a bloody Prince Charming on a stone floor.

"But David’s not dead," Emma pointed out. "The Evil Queen didn’t kill my parents."

"Because she  _couldn’t_ in fairytale world,” Henry said, rolling his eyes. “She had to come  _here_ to do that.”

"If, as you say, David and Mary Margaret are Prince Charming and Snow White, I hate to break it to you, kid, but they’re both kinda okay, y’know? Maybe a little…bland, but she hasn’t killed them here in 28 years, either."

"Because she can’t; she has no magic!"

"There’s lots of ways to …" She shook her head. "You’re not making any sense, Henry."

"Emma, you have to believe me! You have to break the curse, bring back the happy endings, make the Evil Queen pay. You’re the White Knight, the Savior!"

Emma gripped his hand, hard, pulling the book free and tossing it on the ground. His protest was blocked by Emma gripping his shoulders and pulling him up to meet her gaze. “Damn it, Henry! Regina loves you so much! Do you know how much I wanted that for you? Things I never had: a nice home, good food — she  _cooks_  for you! She wants to make you  _happy_. She  _tries_.  _You’re_ her happy ending, kid.  _You!_ ”

"No, I’m not. I’m  _your_ son! I’m the son of the Savior.”

"I gave you up because I was…I  _am_ messed up. I’m no savior.”

"You gave me up because of the curse! Just like your parents did! It had to happen this way!"

"Well, that sucks, kid. And I’m not —" Emma stood; Henry grabbed for her hand, partially getting pulled off the castle as he tried to stop his mother from leaving. She grabbed his arm to push him away.

"You are  _not_  taking my son away from me!” 

Henry froze, looking toward his mother, who looked to him exactly as the storybook showed her storming into the castle on Snow White’s wedding day. “No!” 

"Regina," Emma said. Henry stared at her, confused by the placating tone. "He—"

Regina stormed toward them; Henry pulled away from Emma, backing away from the Evil Queen, certain the fight between Good and Evil was beginning.

Then Regina stumbled; Henry spotted his fairytale book the same time Regina did, snatching it from the ground where she’d tripped over it. “What’s this?” she demanded.

"It’s mine!" Henry raced forward and grabbed for the book, successfully getting it away from Regina and continuing to run past her, escaping.

"Henry!" His mother’s scream of his name followed him on the wind. Emma shouted once. But he wasn’t caught, and no fireballs flew past his head. He glanced back only once to see Emma had grabbed Regina’s arm.  _Whew!_

* * *

"Hold on, Regina!" Emma grabbed for the woman’s arm, the grip slipping until she only had hold of a cold hand. "Stop! It’s all right."

"It’s not all right! You were going to take Henry!"

"I wasn’t. I was trying to tell him —"

Regina’s voice interrupted, “He hates me.”

"You love him."

"Of  _course_  I love him! He’s my son! Not yours! You gave up that right when you signed him away!”

Emma exhaled. “I did.” Regina was panting. Emma continued to try to soothe. “Come. Sit down.” She tugged Regina’s hand and backed toward the play structure. ‘Henry said you used to bring him here.”

Though still caught in her pique, Regina glanced around quickly. Her expression cleared, then became pained. “I did.”

"He said he told you he didn’t like it anymore." She reached for Regina’s other hand, fretting at the hem of her skirt.

"He lied to me, to get him to leave him alone." Emma saw Regina’s brown eyes shining. The woman was on the verge of crying. She squeezed her hand and waited for Regina to lift her gaze. 

The silence ate at Regina. “Miss Swan—”

"Madam Mayor," she murmured, her tone light and easy. She covered Regina’s lips in a kiss, her free hand coming up to stroke the soft throat, cup the woman’s chin, making her lips part breathlessly, and give Emma access with her tongue to the warm recesses of her mouth.

* * *

"Em-ma," Regina gasped at the feel of Emma’s tongue now moving around the shell of her ear.

The younger woman pulled Regina toward one end of the playground structure, an enclosed room of sorts, where four-year old Henry had once looked out and bounced on his toes, crying “Sea, sea!” Regina had simply gathered him to her chest and held him close, kissing his head. 

Now, Emma kissed  _her_ head and laid her down on the wood slats. “But —”

"Just… God, I can’t." Emma was panting; Regina was breathless, too, caught in the same grip of passion’s promise.

Between hungry kisses, Emma’s hand ventured up Regina’s thigh, sliding beneath her dress, seeking, hungering, creating tingles of want deep in Regina’s belly.

"I don’t care how complicated this gets, I still want you." Emma breathed against Regina’s throat.

The burr of Emma’s voice set off burning need. “Oh god,” Regina prayed, though she knew not exactly what for. She clutched at Emma’s shoulders, pulling the woman’s body down upon hers. Their legs tangled. She felt her heels dislodge. Quickly unbuttoned, and arms freed, their coats formed a cocoon around their bodies and Emma’s palm was hot where it touched Regina.

She arched into more kisses.

"I will  _fix_ this.” Emma’s mouth closed over one of Regina’s nipples which had hardened in the brief exposure to the chilled air.

Regina clung to Emma, feeling the woman’s fingers beginning to press at Regina’s center. She clutched at Emma’s back, pulling at the shirt, pushing the fabric aside so she could grasp at satin soft skin, absorb the muscles moving beneath, and believe in Emma’s strength.

Believe that maybe, yes, just maybe, Emma  _could_  fix this, fix everything. 

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Emma’s fingers slid inside Regina rocking and twisting, demanding that Regina’s body respond.

There was no need for the demand. Regina’s hips surged and receded as rhythmically as the waves just beyond their hidden spot. Her body clung to Emma’s fingers same as her arms around Emma’s neck. Her throat constricted around her panting breaths. Incoherently she cried out, pulling at Emma’s hair and squeezing her eyes shut tight to try holding onto some semblance of herself.

Her cheek was nipped, and her eyes shot open. Caught in Emma’s searching green gaze, Regina gasped. For the fleetest moment she had no idea who she was. Then the abyss of Emma’s blown pupils beckoned and she was swallowed whole by an explosion ripping through her every fiber. 

She felt tattered, worn. 

Emma rolled onto her side next to Regina, her right arm cradling and lifting her, pulling her against Emma’s chest. Emma kissed her forehead, stroked her hair, and rearranged their coats to retain their body heat. Slowing her breathing, Regina felt her breath’s warmth radiating off of Emma’s chest. She blinked in the process of coming back to herself.

It was then she felt the fear creep back in. Her limbs felt weak; something foreign pulled at her limbs. Staring at the prominent bones of Emma’s clavicle, she fisted her fingers against the desire to draw invisible whorls on Emma’s chest with her fingertips. She licked her upper lip. It tasted of Emma. It tasted of… loving. 

But love, Regina knew too well, was weakness. She pushed shakily onto her hands, looking down at Emma looking up at her. “This cannot happen again,” she declared.

Emma’s expression, which had been calm, twisted. Traitorously, Regina’s hand rose and cupped Emma’s cheek, fingers threading and tucking a lock of the golden hair behind the shell of an ear.

Growling low, Regina snatched her hand back, then she twisted her whole body away. Head down, she straightened her bra and pulled the sides of her gray dress back over her breasts. Pulling her coat’s sides tightly together over her chest, Regina stumbled to her feet, the wood clattering under her half-off shoes and she nearly turned an ankle, feeling the sting of it appear in her muscles. She leaned against a wooden post and readjusted her pumps. Finally, she staggered off across the sand and grass to where she had parked her car.

"Regina!" 

"Don’t be here when I get back!" she shouted, the words ripped from her mouth by the wind, tears streaming down her face.

###


	4. Push Comes to Shove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina finds Emma at her office and a fight about the playground becomes the catalyst for dominating office sex.
> 
> Partial inspiration for this installment comes from this image: http://0hour.tumblr.com/post/119166476247/swan-queen-you-will-remove-yourself-from-my All hail fanartists! I love you!
> 
> Thanks to Mippippippi from tumblr for the company and conversation as I wrote.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual content TW: dubcon. Regina is determined that Emma Swan will submit to her, so there is a point where the consent is dubious as Emma objects. Though, if you've been okay with the story so far, I can't say there's any more or less consent than has already been happening.

Regina stormed into her office, ignoring her secretary’s attempts to wave her down. “Whoever it is, take a message!” The contractor was an idiot. All she wanted was a bulldozer and a rickety playground razed. “Why should it take two days?!” She threw her purse on the couch, fuming with anger.

She drew up short when she realized someone was already in the office.

That someone was sitting at her desk.

That someone was blonde and grinning, sitting at her desk.

“Miss Swan! Get out of my office! Who let you in! I told you to be gone by the time--”

“I’m not at the playground,” Emma replied calmly, in sharp contrast to the heat Regina felt suffusing her entire body. She stalked to her desk, fingers flexing as she imagined a choke hold on the blonde’s long throat. Green eyes remained fixed on her, chin up and defiant.

“Get out of my chair!”

“It’s nice. You have good taste.”

“You will remove yourself from my desk, or so help me--”

“Or what, your Majesty, you’ll punish me?” Emma challenged.

Regina’s anger flared even hotter. If she had magic, for certain her hands would be filled with flames. She pressed them to the desk and chair and leaned into Emma Swan’s space, locking their gazes. “You have no idea what--”

Emma shook her head. “I think I have a pretty good idea what you’re capable of, Madam Mayor, and I promise you, I will stand up to you about this. Leave the playground alone.”

Regina shoved at Emma’s shoulder, dropping the woman back onto the chair with a thud. Space separated them as the casters broke inertia with the force of the landing.

“I am the power in this town. I will tell you what you will take, and what you won’t.” Emma’s chest expanded and her hands flexed on the arms. Regina trapped them with her own hands, bending forward, breathing the same air. “You will sit there and take it.”

Emma opened her mouth; Regina lowered hers and forced her lips across the other woman’s, pushing her mouth open with her tongue, biting her bottom lip. Emma struggled against Regina’s hands holding her against the chair. Leverage hers for the moment, Regina pushed in harder, closer, making Emma arch her throat, exposing every vulnerability to her. She released the woman’s lips, gratified to watch Emma panting for breath.

Regina kicked Emma’s feet free of the floor and pushed the chair further back from the desk. She lifted one hand from Emma’s, then the other, pushing the jacket off shoulders and down her back, immobilizing her arms in the tacky red pleather. Regina pinned Emma and straddled her thighs. When the woman opened her mouth, again Regina silenced her with a kiss. Biting her bottom lip until Emma moaned, Regina finally pulled back.

“Now, dear, I don’t think you want anyone coming in here, so I suggest you keep your objections to a minimum.”

“Regina,” Emma panted. “Stop.”

“I have asked you to stop on several occasions, Miss Swan. I think it’s about time you understood how that feels.”

“You can’t do this.” Regina lifted an eyebrow, taking in Emma’s trapped figure and the fact that the woman had stopped struggling.

“I believe I can,” she replied.

She ended the line of questioning with plundering tongue and lips, gathering the flavors of cinnamon and cocoa she had so recently tasted at the playground. That the woman still tasted that way angered Regina. She needed to be different, not the same. Everything was changing. She punished Emma’s mouth, biting hard on the bottom lip until she tasted blood.

Emma moaned. But a hand pulled free of her jacket and grabbed Regina’s hair.

The pain sparked tears in Regina’s eyes, so she punished Emma again, licking at the cut flesh and then using her teeth against the woman’s jaw. Her own, now free, hand sunk into Emma’s tresses, pulling the blonde head back against the chair.

She glanced down to see nipples straining through the woman’s tank top. She lowered her mouth to the collarbone also in sharp relief. She wanted to blunt all the woman’s sharp edges. Mold her, soften her. Regina groaned with her own pleasure as Emma made a sound so deep in her chest, the vibrations moved against Regina’s lips, setting them tingling.

She worked Emma’s jacket off the rest of the way, crushing it into the bottom of the chair. Emma’s hands cupped Regina’s head. She moved away from the chair, sinking to her knees, pulling the tank top free of the top of Emma’s jeans.

The abs she kissed were hot and hard and the woman’s heartbeat was loud in her ears. Regina pushed the tank top up and off, watching Emma shake her hair out.

She held Emma’s hands against her blouse, but the buttons were slowly undone. Green eyes searched hers. She pulled off her blouse, returning quickly to straddle Emma’s legs.

Their mouths sought one another and fought for and against possession once again. Regina twisted Emma’s nipples, reveling in the hisses breathed against her shoulder. She gasped when Emma’s hands pressed like brands against her shoulder blades.

She squeezed a breast and pulled it to her mouth. Emma bucked beneath her while she sucked and bit. “Regina,” Emma pleaded through biting her own lip.

Regina grinned around the nipple in her teeth and kneaded Emma’s belly. The woman’s bucking increased as Regina unbuttoned her jeans. The heat was palpable near her hands. Emma’s arousal was rising quickly. Regina squeezed her own thighs together as the memory of the woman’s taste assailed her. Emma moaned.

She pulled back, stood and demanded, “Off!” Emma tugged; Regina tugged. Soon the woman’s jeans were tight around her ankles. Regina pressed Emma’s legs further apart with a knee and reclaimed the pink lips harshly, reveling in the heat and wetness her fingers found amid Emma’s short hairs. Folds swelled and soaked under her fingers.

The blonde’s head was back, her throat vulnerable. Regina grabbed it tightly. “Look at me,” she demanded. “I am in control,” she hissed. “Of everything, even you.”

She pushed two fingers into Emma’s center and watched the woman’s eyes widen then flutter shut as she pushed and twisted and pulled every pleasure from her flesh.

Emma’s hips were rising and falling rhythmically now; her gasps were eager, wanton. Her few words were begging, “more, yes.”

Regina brought her thumb to the top of Emma’s sex, plying the nub, pushing Emma over the edge ruthlessly.

Fluid soaked her hand and she continued pumping, watching Emma’s pleasure subsume her will again. Regina pulled her fingers free, licking them as Emma, pupils still blown, watched her dazedly.

Regina smirked around the fingers in her mouth, reveling in the power she felt. She bent over, watching Emma’s chest heave in deep breaths. “I’ll take this,” she said, pulling on Emma’s tank top.

Emma’s eyes widened more when Regina smoothed the cotton down over her own breasts. “It’s mine now, just like you, just like everything in this town.”

Hands stroked the fabric then slipped underneath to Regina’s skin, her gaze continuing to drink in the sight.

The look Emma gave her Regina determined was adoration. She preened at the attention. She squirmed as her own heart rate sped up and her center heated. She felt Emma’s hands again, sliding up her arms, cupping her face.

She was lowered, gently. The woman’s upper body strength was phenomenal, Regina thought, surprised to feel secure. Their breasts pillowing together, the cotton ribbing making her taut nipples tingle pleasurably. Emma claimed her mouth with gossamer kisses.

Regina clung to the light feeling.


	5. Coming Apart at the Seams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Regina cross paths at David Nolan's coming home party. Regina overhears Emma talking to David and angrily tells her that their arrangement is off. Emma follows Regina to her home and the women fight to figure out what is truly happening between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This art http://queen-saviour.tumblr.com/post/124840129071/lzclotho-delirious-comfort-are-you-kidding partially inspired this installment. All hail helenastacie!
> 
> Thanks to Mippippippi from tumblr for the company and conversation as I wrote.

Regina had invited herself to the David Nolan coming home party; she rationalized that she needed to keep an eye on David and Snow. Kathryn had been pleasantly surprised and thanked Regina for helping her find her husband, encouraging them to reconnect, taking care of his hospital bills... So many things the woman had gushed. Regina finally said, “Enough, dear. What can I do?”

She accepted the task of putting up people’s coats as they arrived. The doorbell rang again.

Kathryn asked, “Would you get that?”

Regina went to the door and opened it. “May I take your --” She cut herself off at the sight of her son and Miss Swan standing together on the front step.

She frowned at her son; he’d said he needed to do homework. He ducked away from her disapproving look and ran forward into the house. She turned to see him heading for the food table.

“Kids and food, huh?” Emma Swan’s voice drew Regina back around to find the other woman had crossed the threshold and stood practically on top of Regina. She took a step back but then stopped when she saw a smirk.

She would not be backed into a corner by this woman. “My son,” she emphasized the possessive, “has a healthy appetite.”

“Well that healthy appetite just grabbed a handful of cheese puffs.”

Regina jerked around to see her son lowering his hand into a bowl of the junk food to add to the puffs already filling a paper bowl. She started to say something, until she felt a hand wrap around hers. “Let go of me,” she demanded sharply under her breath.

“I’m just giving you my coat,” the woman replied, pressing a jacket into Regina’s hands.

Regina squeezed the red pleather and frowned. “Miss Swan, what are you doing here?”

“Celebrating a man’s return to his wife, right? Same as you.”

“You know nothing about these people,” Regina hissed.

“I wager neither do you, Regina.” Miss Swan shrugged. “And I did save David from wandering in the woods.”

David apparently heard his name. “Oh, hey!” He came toward them, Henry hanging off his left side. “It’s...Emma, right?”

“Yeah, David.” Miss Swan stepped around Regina. “How are you feeling?”

“You and the kid are the first familiar faces,” he answered. “Did you, uh... come alone?” He looked past her.

“Yeah,” Miss Swan said. Regina watched the three of them walk toward an open space by the food table. She turned away to put the coat in the front closet.

She could still hear the two adults talking.

“You don’t want to do that, David,” Miss Swan said.

“I just want to talk to her.”

“It’s better this way,” Emma sounded insistent.

Regina was almost thankful Miss Swan was helping her keep David and Snow separated. It made her feel somewhat better disposed toward the blonde interloper.

“You’re married,” Miss Swan said. “Don’t complicate things. I told MM to stay away too.”

“Have you ever been married?” David asked.

Regina found herself biting her lip, waiting for the woman’s reply. She hadn’t seen a marriage in the background information Sidney provided to her, but perhaps his information had been incomplete.

“No, and I won’t. Lust isn’t love. It’s meaningless sex.”

Regina felt her heart squeeze at the definitive rejection in Miss Swan’s words. She swallowed, vividly recalling their sexual liaison in her office just twenty-four hours ago.

She examined why she felt disappointment. It occurred to her that she wanted Emma to feel something.

But Emma said to David that lust was meaningless. Sex was meaningless.

Quickly she pushed her way out of the closet, driven to do something, say something, wanting to lash out.

David had moved away and now stood awkwardly by Kathryn, shaking hands with people. Regina searched the crowded space and spotted Emma sitting with Henry on a bench by the stairs.

Their eyes met. The blonde’s head cocked to the side, looking her up and down. Regina balked at the idea of being a meaningless encounter.

“Henry,” she said sharply, stalking to her son and his birth mother. “Time to go home.”

Emma Swan came to her feet.

"Miss Swan, get out of my way.” She pointed to the door and quickly looked down at her son. “Henry, go.”

He looked to be about to refuse when Emma put her hand on his shoulder. Regina bristled as the woman nodded; Henry dropped his head and walked toward the door.

“How dare--”

“Relax, Regina, you got your way. He’s going.”

“When are you going, Miss Swan?”

“I thought we had... an arrangement?” the woman said, lowering her voice.

“I am no longer interested,” Regina said. Quickly she turned on her heels and stalked out the front door of the Nolan home.

The image of Emma Swan’s face drained of color stayed with Regina until she crawled into her bed that evening. Alone.

It didn’t make her feel triumphant at all.

 

* * *

 

Emma finally made her escape from the Nolan party around nine o’clock. It was full dark when she settled behind the wheel of her Beetle. The encounter with Regina Mills remained uppermost in her mind and despite her determination to ignore the situation, she turned down Mifflin Street and stopped, staring up at the mansion at the end of the street.

“Damn it,” she muttered. Regina had told her their arrangement was off.

“Fuck,” Emma added, miffed that it was an arrangement at all. Then she dropped her forehead hard against the steering wheel between her hands, wondering why she cared so much.

Her first thought wasn’t Henry, however, and that made her bang her head against the wheel a second time. Everything was supposed to be about Henry.

_Damn it, when had it changed?_

She watched as the downstairs lights in the mansion doused from one end of the house to the other, then the upstairs corridor went dark. A tree in the side yard fell into shadow meaning another room’s light had been extinguished on the back of the house.

Regina’s bedroom, her mind unhelpfully supplied. Her body began to buzz with the memory of their first sex in that room, and the second, the next morning before she’d snuck out past their son eating in the kitchen.

Had it been an arrangement still, by then? Certainly by the playground it hadn’t. It was still fierce, demanding, from both of them, but there had been tenderness as well. She hadn’t tried to hurt Regina.

She’d tried to take care of her. Confronting the woman in her office to protest the demolition of the playground had been filled with soft moments. Watching Regina pull on her tank top while she’d straddled Emma’s hips had felt like being doused in liquid fire -- “I’ll take this,” the woman had breathed into her ear before yanking the tank top on over her head. “It’s mine now, just like you, just like everything in this town.”

What she had seen in Regina’s eyes though wasn’t mere possession, but want and desire. She’d pulled Regina against her, the whiteness of the tank beautifully contrasting olive skin, and for the first time, Emma had seen Regina’s muscles in powerful relief as she held herself up. Added to the heat flowing at her from brown eyes, the effect had Emma insatiably hungry for the other woman body and soul. The gasps and cries and moans she pulled from Regina’s throat made Emma grateful that the building beyond the mayor’s office was long empty.

“Oh fuck,” she breathed out harshly through her nose as arousal soaked her underpants. She couldn’t leave Regina alone now. Strings tied them together too thoroughly. Strings that weren’t sex for leverage, or even sex for satisfying lust.

The prospect scared her to death. She glanced back over her shoulder. She should just head out of town. Regina was right; they were not meant to do this.

Then the tree lit again on the side of the house, a softer, smaller light, and Emma was climbing out of the Beetle, having parked it next to the Mercedes in the driveway. Pushing through the back yard gate, she stared up at the window seeing a vague silhouette, knowing it was Regina unable to sleep. Before Emma realized what she was doing, she had picked up a stone from the garden in front of her feet and thrown it at the window sill. The plink-plink as it hit the window and slid down echoed in her ears.

She swallowed and waited. The silhouette had frozen in place, Emma fingered another stone in her palms, turning it over, feeling its solidity, its smooth and rough spots. Ten breaths later, Emma threw it too. The flat of the stone thunked against the glass. She winced.

The window was thrown up in the next instant. Regina leaned out, backlit, face in shadow. Her hands planted on the sill. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m not leaving!” Emma hissed. “Not until you talk to me.”

“It’s the middle of the night!”

“It’s only ten o’clock,” Emma responded. “And you’re awake.”

“We’re supposed to be asleep.”

“I will keep throwing stones, Regina.”

Regina pulled herself back inside and Emma watched the window slide closed. She paced. Had it been enough? she asked herself. She heard sounds from inside the house, behind the first floor door she realized only now was directly in front of her.

Regina filled the open doorway, holding it firmly against her side. Her free hand held a robe closed tightly at her neck. “Go away!” she snapped.

“I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to,” Emma said. “You don’t want me to, either,” she added, hoping she wasn’t bluffing.

Regina stared at her; Emma fidgeted. Regina took a single step backward, no longer blocking the path inside the house. “I am only letting you inside because I do not wish to make a spectacle in front of the neighbors.”

“Fine with me.”

Regina frowned; Emma smiled as she stepped inside. When she looked around, she realized they were standing in the kitchen. The brunette moved herself to the opposite side of the center island. Emma smiled again, recognizing the defensive maneuver as Regina put her hands on the counter between them.

“Say what you came to say. Then get out.”

“See that’s the thing, I really don’t think you want me to do that,” Emma said.

“You wanted to see Henry, I won’t allow it anymore. There is no further reason for our arrangement. You will leave Storybrooke, and you will never return, is that clear?”

“That’s just it. This,” Emma said, gesturing between them, “is no longer about Henry. I still want to see him,” she said, not giving up on that. “But now, you know something? Regina,” Emma paused and took a step to the side around the island. Regina’s hand went back to clutch her robe against her throat. “I really want to see you.”

“It’s just meaningless sex, Miss Swan, and it...you no longer interest me.”

“Meaningless?” Emma frowned. “You don’t believe that. That’s a lie.”

“Lust is not love,” Regina stated.

“It’s…?” Emma faltered. “We’ve gone beyond lust, Regina.” She stepped closer. Regina backed up against another counter. Her gaze locked with Emma’s. “I know you know it, too.”

“No,” Regina objected, but her voice had lost its anger.

“I’m not willing to leave you alone,” Emma said. She grabbed Regina’s hand coming up between their bodies. “Not now, not ever.”

She claimed Regina’s lips in a kiss. The body in her arms was silk and hardness and softness, and then, as Emma continued, moving her hands over the woman’s back and up into her hair, Regina became entirely softness. Her mouth melted under Emma’s, tasting of toothpaste, and her breasts pillowed against Emma’s, their heartbeats thudding in rapid counterpoint. Her hands, fists at first, softened to fingers tracing over Emma’s collarbones, pushing aside the leather of her jacket, caressing the tendons of her throat, sliding into the fall of her hair, tickling at the nape of her neck.

Regina opened her mouth, uttering a plaintive sound; Emma sought the source of the noise, tongue tracing teeth and tasting the other woman more deeply. She held Regina up as she felt the woman’s knees give out under her.

Separating from those full lips, Emma tasted Regina’s skin from cheek to chest, brushing aside the sheer robe, reveling in the warm skin and feel of satin against her tongue. “Regina,” she breathed.

Hands clutched her hair. In a quick movement, Emma lifted Regina, an arm around her back, the other under her thighs. She staggered a step as Regina’s mouth brushed her throat, and she heard a whispered, “Emma.”

Emma’s heart pounded against her ribcage painfully, but she tugged Regina’s body into her center of gravity and strode quickly out of the kitchen. In the hall, she felt the weight slipping, pushed Regina up against the wall, where they traded heated kisses.

Her hands fumbled against luscious curves, the robe parting, the negligee slipping from a shoulder, a breast freed to her gaze. Regina’s hands again sifted through her hair as Emma could not ignore the feast any longer. Regina’s chest expanded with her gasp as Emma’s mouth closed over the hardening tip.

She worked a knee between Regina’s thighs, hands stroking Regina’s sides relentlessly as she pulled and sucked, and plied the soft mass until Regina was pulling her hair, whimpering in undeniable need. Heat branded her own thigh as Regina’s arousal soaked through her thin panties.

Regina lifted her face, cupped her cheeks, met her eyes with a wonder that looked so at home on the features, and yet, there was an unfamiliarity to the way Regina smiled that tugged on every string of Emma’s heart.

“Upstairs?” Regina said.

“Too far,” Emma panted.

Emma delighted in the tiny laugh that elicited. “Follow me,” Regina said.

Their hands slid down until their fingers interlaced between them. Emma stepped back, freeing Regina from the wall. Linked by their hands, Emma admiring the already tumbled look of Regina’s hair, they walked out of the hallway entering another room off the foyer.

As Regina opened the door, Emma looked past her, head resting on her shoulder. “Here?”

“Where it began,” Regina said. “Seems right."

Emma chuckled. “You are the most sentimental, sexiest woman.”

Regina pulled Emma inside the room and closed and locked the door, setting the key on the fireplace mantle next to the clock. She glanced toward Emma over her shoulder and took her hand, leading her to the sofa.

They settled together, the momentum that brought them here temporarily interrupted. Emma looked at Regina’s hands, eyes trailing up to the parted robe, the still pushed aside lingerie that she made no move to adjust. In that moment Emma realized she had uncovered the true Regina Mills.

Not the possessive mother, not the powerful mayor, but just the woman. “Hey,” Emma said, feeling a little daunted. “I…don’t want an arrangement anymore either.”

Pools of dark brown lifted and searched Emma, she knew, for any sign of a lie, a trap. She cupped Regina’s hand on the woman’s knee, thumb brushing the tendons waiting for Regina to make up her mind.

“All right,” Regina said into the lengthening silence.

Emma smiled and lifted her free hand to Regina’s cheek, feeling the curve of it settle against her palm. She brushed her fingers over the strong line of bone and then the corner of lips that pressed just a bit too hard. The corner tilted up, and Emma leaned forward kissing that spot. The corner tilted up more under her lips. “All right,” Emma said.

She let Regina pull off her coat, strip her out of her tank top, hands hot and a little shaky against her abs as she undid the button on Emma’s jeans.

Regina bent forward, Emma cupped the back of her head as generous lips caressed her chest, the swell of her breasts, and warm palms and fingers sent tingles throughout her body.

Emma laid back, heeding the commands of Regina’s coaxing hands. The brunette loomed above her, hair falling forward around her face, the shadows and light from the lamps moving across her expressions. Gripping Regina’s hips as the woman settled across her thighs, Emma lifted the negligee and stroked voluptuous curves.

Regina began rocking against Emma’s center, making Emma smile as she realized the friction the woman was using came from her jeans. “Slow down,” she said with a light sound, gripping Regina’s hips to still her motions. “We’ve got all night.”

Keening softly, Regina edged back, pulling at Emma’s pants. She growled; Emma lifted her hips. Finally the denim was tossed aside, somewhere on the floor, and Emma used her stomach muscles to lift herself, wrap her arms around Regina, and pull her back down with her, their skin, from breasts to calves, sliding against each other soft and hot.

She pulled off Regina’s robe, giving herself access to the woman’s shoulders, kissing them as Regina writhed at the squeezes Emma made on the taut globes of ass in her palms. She pressed their hips together, rising into Regina’s pelvis even as the other woman ground down.

Their rocking became uncoordinated. Emma chuckled as Regina slid to the side once too far, almost sliding to the floor. But with her upper body strength she reclaimed the woman, and they continued toward a shared peak of mutual pleasure.

Regina’s head lowered; Emma tilted her chin up. They were kissing, swallowing each other’s cries and moans as they came together.

 

###

  
  
  



	6. Coming Between Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Regina's secret sexual relationship continues. Meanwhile, cracks are appearing in Graham's cursed identity; Regina does something she regrets. (warning: Character death)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This installment takes place during season 1 episode 8, “Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”

 

Regina threw her arm across her eyes, shuddering and breathing hard. Emma gave a parting caress to her throbbing clit and the bed shifted as she moved off Regina’s thighs.

“Hey.” Emma’s chuckle accompanied her fingers stroking Regina’s side.

“Hnng,” Regina managed, oversensitized and yet still incredibly aroused by the simple touch.

“Oh, yeah?” Emma’s voice held a note of teasing. “Tell me more.”

Regina’s mouth set in a moue. Since they had dropped the idea their sexual interactions were remotely any sort of “arrangement,” the sex had changed in intensity if that were even possible. “You are insatiable.”

“And which of us took me over the cliff three times in the department locker room just this afternoon?” Emma nipped Regina’s breast, sucking hard as Regina arched into the contact and grabbed fistfuls of blonde hair. The result would almost certainly be a dark purple bruise, but the endorphins flooded her body. Emma released the suction with a pop. “Just keeping the score kinda even.” Abruptly Emma was no longer against her.

Uncovering her eyes and finally focusing in the dark room, Regina saw Emma backing off the bed and pulling on her tank top. The woman’s skin was dappled by moonlight from the windows; her blonde hair almost glowed like faerie light. It wasn’t hard to see the savior Emma was in that moment, and Regina felt her heart thump painfully.

Gruffly she demanded, “Where are you going?”

“I gotta get going.”

“But Henry’s asleep.”

“No. I mean Graham’s expecting me to relieve him at midnight. He tried to get me to take the whole overnight shift, but I promised him midnight instead.”

“What are you doing with Graham?” Regina demanded and pushed up onto her elbows, watching Emma bending over locating her jeans on the floor.

“Jealous, Regina?” Emma asked, leaning against the doorframe of the closet. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Where’s Graham going?” Regina demanded to know.

“Out. Hunting maybe? He said he was headed into the woods for a weekend retreat.”

Regina fidgeted. Graham hadn’t called her, hadn’t asked her. She was the mayor; he was the sheriff. Wasn’t he under her control? She bit her lip thinking about the backbone the therapist had developed when Henry was recovered from the mine. Was the curse already slipping?

Emma’s hand on her forearm interrupted Regina’s thoughts. As the blonde eased onto the bed and her body fitted around Regina’s, she said, “No worries. Relax, I can handle this sleepy little town on my own for two days.”

“But Graham --”

“You’re in safe hands without Graham, Regina,” Emma said. She brushed aside the light hairs on Regina’s neck and pressed her lips behind Regina’s ear, humming into the contact.

Regina’s eyes fluttered closed, unable to resist the rising arousal that swamped her belly. The woman played her body like a song.

Emma’s chuckle in her ear told her she knew it, too. Regina sighed, took Emma’s hand from her lap and pulled it to her breast.

“Stay,” she breathed.

“I’ll see you in the office tomorrow,” Emma said instead.

Regina closed her eyes, unwilling to watch as she felt the blonde pull away, and heard her retreating steps around the room, eventually out the door, down the staircase, and out into the night.

She swallowed hard and went to the window overlooking the walk, pulling a robe tightly around her, locating Emma by the moonlight reflecting off her golden hair, reaching the sidewalk out in front of the house. Nervously she rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, clutching her arms around her middle, holding herself together.

* * *

 

Emma fidgeted with the heel of her foot not yet sitting solidly in her boot. Stopping on the walk, she bent over, pulling at the leather until her foot settled properly. With a sigh, she exhaled, glancing down at herself before she started walking to the park where she’d left the Beetle. Her tank was only half tucked and the neckline was askew, showing her bra. She tried a few adjustments, but it wasn’t enough. She started to pull off her jacket when she froze in the glow of headlights.

Squinting through the glare, she recognized the patrol car and her heart thumped. She heard the car door open and close and risked a glance up toward Regina’s house, hoping the woman had gone to sleep.

“Hey, Graham,” she said, trying to keep her voice even, though her heart was pounding hard and making her breath feel a little short.

The Sheriff of Storybrooke stepped in front of the headlamp of his vehicle and put his hands on his hips, thumbs on his utility belt. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Just out,” she said. “I told you I’d be in at midnight.”

“It’s after 11.”

“Yeah. I’m on my way.”

He looked around and seemed to notice exactly whose house they were in front of. “Regina lives here.”

“Yeah.”

“What business did you have with the mayor?”

“Not business. She’s the mother of my kid,” Emma explained. “We’re... working things out.”

“She’s warned you away from him before.”

“Well, that’s changed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

He looked at the house again. “She’s dangerous.”

“She’s your boss,” Emma replied, putting her hand on his arm.

“She’s still dangerous. You were right when you thought she had her fingers in the department, Emma.”

“Well, I’m not reall--” She started to pull away.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said abruptly, interrupting her and grabbing her shoulder. Emma yanked at his hand, trying to dislodge his grip. Her eyes widened.

“Yeah, I know I gotta go to the loft and change for my shift. I’ll be at the station at midnight like I promised.”

“Emma,” he narrowed his eyes and stared at her intensely. “You’re...my...deputy. My responsibility.” He shook her. Green eyes narrowed.

“I can take care of myself, Graham. Seriously, you gotta trust me if you want me to stay on as deputy.”

He shook his head, frowned, and then rubbed the back of his neck. His dark curls bobbed. “Yeah, yeah, what was I thinking?” Then suddenly his head turned to the side. “What’s that?”

Emma’s gaze jerked to the same spot. “What?”

He looked confused; Emma managed to get his hands off her upper arms.

Abruptly he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her against him and kissed her.

“You should run far away, Emma Swan,” he said sharply.

Stunned, Emma could only stare after the Sheriff as he took off running into the woods.

* * *

 

Regina gasped as she watched Graham grab Emma and kiss her. She slapped the window and fisted her hand against it, trying to think and quickly. She was jolted from her thoughts when Graham abruptly jerked away from Emma and ran toward the woods.

 _Where was he going? What was he doing? What had he said to Emma?_ “Damn,” she muttered under her breath. Quickly she retreated to her room, donned a warm turtleneck and wool pants. She grabbed her coat, keys and phone, and headed for the door.

Emma was no longer on the walk when Regina reached it. The patrol car had been turned off. Regina looked in the direction Graham had run, realizing that way lay the cemetery. Quickly she got into her car and drove there, though she looked alongside the road as she went, hoping to spot him.

She noticed something crashing through the foliage into the cemetery grounds and quickly parked the car. “Graham!” she called out, hurrying forward.

A gray blur, close to the ground, ran through the rows of headstones. She had just jerked her head around to follow it when another motion caught her eye and she turned back to see Graham staggering, appearing almost drunk, his arms waving in front of his face. He shouted incoherently. But then he dropped to his knees before the Mills mausoleum.

Torn between approaching and watching from afar, Regina pressed herself against a nearby tree. He hadn’t noticed her yet. From this angle she could see some of his face. His eyes were wild. He kept rubbing at them. “I couldn’t, I…” Graham’s fists slammed into the ground and he bent forward over his arms, rocking back and forth.

Then he threw his head back and howled. The sound made her jump and cower back deeper into the shadow of the tree. She began to understand that her Huntsman was beginning to remember.

“Graham,” she said, loud but with surprise rather than anger. She had to play this very carefully. “What are you doing here?”

He jerked and scrambled to his feet; still unsteady, he nevertheless looked meekly down at the ground, hands rubbing against one another, before he lifted his head and met her gaze. “Re--Madam Mayor,” he said. “I was...just patrolling. I...there was a wolf.” He cast a glance toward the mausoleum. “I...lost its trail here.”

“Was something amiss?” she asked.

“I...haven’t checked yet.”

“Em--Deputy Swan tells me that you’re planning a trip.”

His neck colored sharply. “I, yeah, I haven’t. I thought a bit of camping. In the woods.”

She stepped forward. “You should have told me.”

“She’s my deputy. It’s my department.”

“But I’m the mayor, dear.” She narrowed her eyes, revealing a little anger. “You work for me.”

“I know, I...I didn’t...I mean…” His voice trailed off and his eyes dropped to the ground. “Sorry, your majesty. It won’t happen again.”

Regina blanched, but recovered her aplomb despite her rapidly beating heart. “What did you tell Em--” She shook her head -- she couldn’t think of the blonde that way right now -- and corrected with a demand, “What did you tell Deputy Swan?”

“She’s taking over while I’m out. One of the benefits of a deputy.”

“But she is only a deputy. Where will you be?”

“I...camping.” He seemed to drop his shoulders as she neared, but then thought better of it and squared them instead. “The Sheriff’s Department isn’t under your thumb anymore. I want it back.”

“What back?” Regina watched his eyes narrow and then look toward the mausoleum again. “Have I taken something?”

“Yes, no. No, I…”

“I gave you autonomy for most things, Sheriff. I needed to. But I am still the mayor.” She drew a deeper breath before asking again, “You still work for me.”

“I need to get away for a while, take a break. I’m feeling…” He looked at her confused. “Nothing. Just. Nothing.”

“Maybe you should just go home and go to sleep, Graham.” She reached out and touched his arm.

He pulled from her grip. “No!” She frowned. “Leave me alone! I won’t. I can stop you.”

“Stop me from what, dear?” Regina put both her hands on his forearms, leaned forward, looked up into his face and searched his eyes; she’d known the dull mind behind them for more than thirty years. Now all she saw was roiling turmoil. “What’s going on?”

“I...You want revenge. I won’t help you take it. No, Snow, Emma...no....” He pulled away from her. “I need to warn her.”

Regina watched him flee the cemetery as if the wolf he claimed to have been chasing was now fast on his heels.

The cool stone of the building seeped into her fingers. She blinked. Graham was out of sight. And apparently now out of her control. _What could he say to Emma? How far gone was he? What did he see of his previous life? How much would the blonde believe him?_   She staggered under the number of questions falling on her.

Reaching into her purse, she clutched her phone, wondering if she should try to call Emma. If the blonde was on patrol because she thought Graham leaving on his ‘camping trip,’ she might be out of reach by him for a while. But if he got back to the station, he could use the radio system for the department to reach her. She wavered.

She could have almost considered his distress that of a jilted lover. But he had also mentioned Snow and not letting Regina take revenge. That suggested that the curse was crumbling. Regina opened the vault. Now, she knew what he was attempting to find, even if he couldn’t articulate it beyond feeling “nothing” and “empty."

His heart. She’d spoken the truth to him, though obliquely. She had taken his heart from her desk in the office years before and given up constant control of it, instead storing it away with her other captured hearts in the vault. She had wanted to know that his visits to her were of his choice. And they had been.

She needed him not to find Emma, not to tell her what he was beginning to know. She needed him not to awaken to the knowledge of who he truly was.

Regina hurried down the stairs under her father’s crypt. If the curse was breaking, perhaps somehow his dysphoria was a symptom. She needed to check everything. The dust was thick down here. She coughed and covered her eyes as she pushed through a cobweb.

The magic of the space thrummed almost hypnotically in her ears as she neared the wall. She went to the creche and tapped its cover, withdrawing the small carved box.

Inside the heart glowed with its ethereal connection to this world and the other, and to the body it had once known: The Huntsman. It throbbed in her fist as she lifted it.

She hesitated at the weight of it, glancing upward. _What am I doing?_ a part of her begged herself. She was preparing to snuff out yet another life.

If Emma ever believed in the Evil Queen, Regina would lose. She couldn’t lose. What would she lose?

In her mind’s eye, Regina saw the soft green eyes of the Savior, smiling at her, their bodies entwined, slick with sweat. She sighed. Emma touched her; her breath caught in her throat.

“Emma,” she whispered.

_The woman in her mind wrapped herself around Regina and tears slipped onto Regina’s cheeks. “I’m here.”_

_She fisted her hand into dream Emma’s chest. “I need you,” she murmured._

The heart in her fist turned to ash. Regina sank to the floor of the crypt and cried. “Oh, god, what have I done?”

* * *

 

Emma was just putting on the badge from her desk drawer when the station doors slammed open. “What the--?” She turned to see Graham stumbling into the room. He looked around, wild-eyed and his gaze intersected hers.

“Emma!” he gasped. “Run!”

“From what?” Emma darted forward and met him as he stumbled to his knees.

“Snow. Teacher. Protect you. Queen.” He slammed face first into the parquet. Emma grabbed his shoulders and rolled him over onto his back.

“Graham! Fuck!” Emma looked at his glazed over eyes, pounded on his chest, and watched his body jerk.

She felt for a pulse in his throat, finding nothing. “What the hell?!” She flipped open her phone and dialed the hospital. “Send an ambulance to the sheriff’s office! Now!” she shouted into the phone.

Not bothering to close the call, Emma started chest compressions and rescue breathing. Graham didn’t show any signs of recovery, but she worked on him until the ambulance team pushed her aside and lifted him onto the gurney. Jumping into the patrol car, she raced the ambulance to the hospital.

Dr Whale pronounced Sheriff Graham Humbert dead at 2:34 a.m.

At 2:35 a.m., Emma called Regina. “Madam Mayor, the Sheriff is dead.”

* * *

 

Emma looked at herself in the mirror and self-consciously picked at the knotted laces around her wrist. She shouldn’t have, she kept telling herself. It wasn’t right. But she’d been given Graham’s clothes at the hospital, and almost mechanically, absently, she’d stripped out the laces from his boots and fashioned them into a band on her wrist.

He’d have been proud of her though; she didn’t cry until she was in her car. She took care of signing his body over to the medical examiner, requesting a thorough autopsy. Why would a man in the prime years of his life, by all signs in peak physical condition, simply drop dead of what Dr Whale had termed a cardiac arrest?

Mary Margaret hadn’t been home when Emma returned to the loft. She’d raided the schoolteacher’s closet for a black dress. She’d thought about wearing the uniform. The one she’d told Graham he didn’t have to make her wear. Somehow it would be poetic; but she wasn’t in a mind to be poetic. _It hurt, goddamn it_. And she wanted to be raw and real, not fancy or zen. Mary Margaret had told her Graham was in a better place and Emma should be happy. _Fuck that_.

She got out of the car at the cemetery; Graham hadn’t been of any faith anyone knew about, so Regina had arranged a graveside gathering, giving the city employees the day off. Emma was determined to say a few words. She hadn’t seen Graham with many friends, just acquaintances.

Archie was there with Pongo. The Dalmatian was one of the sheriff office’s semi-regular calls. “He came back last night,” Archie said. “On his own. I should’ve known something was wrong.”

Emma put a hand on the psychiatrist's shoulder and stood next to him, looking from the simple casket to the gaping hole in the ground. Looking quickly away, she scanned down the assembly of mourners. Mary Margaret stood with Ashley and her baby, David Nolan with his wife, Kathryn. Regina stood at the end, separated from the rest.

Her eyes were down, and she held Henry tightly by the hand. Emma frowned when he said something, a scowl on his face and pulled away from her. Regina’s head came up to follow her son leaving her side. But she didn’t move after him, her face a study of agonized and pinched pain, from eyes red-rimmed and cheeks washed of color, no matter the makeup she had applied to apparently cover it.

Henry didn’t come to Emma’s side. Instead, he pushed past even her to hug Pongo at Archie’s feet. Dr Hopper rubbed Henry’s shoulder. Emma’s gaze locked with Regina’s.

“Storybrooke owes a debt of gratitude to her servant,” Regina said. “Sheriff Graham Humbert served everyone with a deep affection for all.”

Emma quirked her lips to convey to Regina she thought the words had been nice. Regina swallowed and dipped her head again.

“They call police officers peace officers in many places,” Emma said. Regina’s gaze snapped back up to hers. “Graham was definitely a man of peace.”

Regina’s throat moved spasmodically again and it was easy to tell she was holding back tears; Emma was, too.

“May he rest in peace,” Regina said, looking back down at the casket now lowered into the gravesite. She picked up a handful of dirt from the mound. Emma stepped forward and did the same. “Deputy Swan?”

Emma shook her head. “Emma,” she said, meaningfully dropping her handful of earth into the hole. Regina nodded and dropped hers.

Emma turned where she stood now next to Regina. She saw Henry staring at them. Well, more accurately, glaring at them. He took the shovel from Archie and scooped a shovelful of the dirt into the hole. When he looked up, he went to Mary Margaret and gave her the shovel, sending another glare toward Regina.

Regina looked away from the gravesite, took the shovel from Brian and shoveled a large heap of dirt into the hole. She looked several times about to say something, only to bite her lip and say nothing. Emma put one hand on her back and reached around, grabbing the shovel.

Before speaking, Emma tossed two shovels full of dirt into the grave. She handed the shovel off and guided Regina away.

“Hey,” she said, once they were sufficiently separated from the others.

“I should stay,” Regina said. “Graham had no family.”

“You were just his boss, Regina. It’s all right. You’ve done enough for him.”

Regina looked back. “He was a good man.”

“Yeah.” Emma walked away from the site; her motion dragging Regina along with her, since she’d rightly guessed the brunette didn’t want to be alone. “I started the process to get an official autopsy,” she said quietly.

“I thought Whale said--”

“Cardiac arrest, yeah. But Graham was in great shape. Yeah, when he got to the station, he’d obviously been running hard.”

“He got to the station?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

“He was kinda raving. Nothing really made any sense,” Emma said. “I’d seen him earlier, after I left your place. He’d been upset at me then, and got distracted, but this was something else. Maybe he picked up something in the woods when he was running through them.”

“You think he was feverish?”

“Lots of strange stuff out there,” Emma said. “Anyway, I’ve got the medical examiner looking into toxicology.”

Regina’s brow furrowed. “What do you think he’ll find?”

“Answers,” Emma said, glancing back over her shoulder at the now covered gravesite.

###


End file.
